Kobe Bryant: Lakers Have to ‘Work Too Hard’ to Score Points


Following a testy, losing affair in OKC last night, Kobe Bryant was critical of his team’s offensive attack. From the LA Times: “The Lakers trailed at halftime after that flurry, 46-43. They never led again. [Kobe] Bryant had his second bad shooting night in a row. He also had a lengthy, um, chat with Durant and Thunder guard James Harden toward the end of the game. Bryant laughed about it afterward. ‘Maybe one day they’ll be able to sit at my lunch table,’ he said. ‘Right now we’re at two different lunch tables, man. The conversation’s pretty brief.’ Durant had 33 points for Oklahoma City (27-7), which improved to 15-1 at home. Westbrook had 19 points for the Thunder. Harden had 16. Durant and Westbrook will be at the All-Star game Sunday in Orlando. The Lakers do not play again until Wednesday against Minnesota. They could use some downtime. ‘We’ve got to work too hard to get points,’ Bryant said. ‘I’m sure the coaches will talk about it over All-Star break, but we’ve got to make our jobs a little easier. We’re going against defenses that are sending double-teams all the time. We’ve got to have a little more movement — free Andrew up, free Pau [Gasol] up, free myself up so I don’t have to work against two guys all the time. Oklahoma does a fantastic job over there. They do a great job of putting [Durant] in the right place so he doesn’t have to work too much.’”